The Exes
by Sugarrush71
Summary: A series of one-shots about the various previous romantic partners of our favourite crime fighting couple and why they may not be our favourite characters.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N : A missing scene from 2x17 Tick, Tick, Tick..._

_Disclaimer : Castle and its characters are owned by Milmar and ABC. I just like thinking up this extra stuff to do with what they created._

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"Yes, sir….I understand I just don't think there is enough evidence to suggest we are looking at a serial here….Yes, I understand that this is a high profile case…..and it's the middle of tourist season and a murder in the middle of Grand Central Station is a cause for concern," Supervisory Special Agent Jordan Shaw rolls her eyes to the heavens as she quickly changes the telephone handset from one ear to the other and starts signalling through the glass wall of her temporary office.

"Sir, I just think that the NYPD is more than capable of finding this killer and until there are more clear cut indications that this is a serial case then the FBI doesn't have jurisdiction…..Of course, sir. Whatever you say, sir. I'll get a team together and make contact with the detectives running the case. Goodbye, sir," and with a frustrated sigh she replaces the handset into the phone's cradle just as her offsider, SA Jason Avery, pokes his head inside her office door, responding to her summons.

"You need something Jordan?" asks the young, bald African American agent.

"What I need is to get back to DC to my husband and my daughter but it seems that thanks to both the Governor and the Mayor of New York our esteemed Director has other ideas. What do you know about that murder at Grand Central the other night?" she asks him while rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands.

She's really tired. She and Avery had come up to the New York field office a week ago hunting a serial killer, Mark Cartwright, that had been targeting young women in Brooklyn. It had taken a lot of late nights but yesterday they had bagged the suspect in the process of attempting to abduct another victim. She had just been finishing up the resulting paperwork and looking forward to flying back home this evening when she got the frustrating call from the Director. God, she hates the politics in her job sometimes.

Avery comes all the way into her office at her question and with hands on his hips answers her in a slightly confused tone, "Uh, not much. Only what's in the press. I've been busy putting the paperwork on Cartwright to bed so we can get back to DC. Why?"

"Oh, only that the Director has decided that the case requires our particular attention so you better cancel our flight back and find out all you can about the case. Get me everything you can on it as quick as you can. Touch base with Garcia at Quantico if you have to. I'll talk to the SAC to get the same equipment and personnel we had for Cartwright," she tells him, her tone all business at the end as she puts aside her frustration and gets back into case mode.

Avery gives her a nod of his head in response and walks back out of her office as she gets up herself to make her way to the SAC's office. Time to make nice with the SAC so that she can steal some of his people again. She knows other SSAs that take their own regular team of agents and specialists from city to city and then move in with the local law enforcement officers to solve serial cases. Her method is for just Avery and herself to go to the sight of the case and utilise local assets as much as possible. Either working directly with the local LEOs working the case or combining that with a team of agents and specialists conscripted from the local field office, when there is one. Just as she had done with the Cartwright case and was going to do again with this one.

Fifteen minutes later she is back in the temporary office that she had been given upon her arrival at the field office and is speed reading the information in the computer monitor in front of her. Hmm, looks like we've got a suspect obsessed with a somewhat famous novelist's new character, Nikki Heat, and the NYPD detective it's based on, a Detective Katherine Beckett. She continues to read the information that Avery and Garcia had been able get from the NYPD and other sources on the case. There might be something to this after all. This case might be worth her and her partner's time. There are some definite markers, the message in the bullets and the personal call to the detective, which indicate that this suspect will kill again. All to get the attention of this Detective Nikki Heat aka Detective Kate Beckett.

She keeps reading some of the history of this Detective Beckett that even includes a recent Cosmo article and then gets to mentions of Beckett having worked with the FBI on two previous occasions on kidnapping cases. Well that's good. If she's worked with the FBI before then she shouldn't have a problem with her and her team swooping in on the case. After reading some of the details of the second case and then a later RICO case her eyebrows furrow with confusion and then disbelief at what she is reading. How the hell was that allowed to happen?

A knock on the open door of her office interrupts her thoughts and she looks up to see a tall, fair haired, square jawed male agent standing in the doorway. Her eyes narrow at the agent who is looking hopefully at her. It doesn't take her highly tuned profiling skills to know what this man is about to say given what she has just read.

"SSA Shaw, I'm Special Agent Will Sorenson. I'd like to request to be included on your team for the Nikki Heat case. I know the NYPD detectives involved and I think I can help with liaising with them," asks Sorenson smoothly as he walks confidently into her office.

Jordan leans back in her office chair, folds her arms across her chest and takes quite a few long seconds to regard the man in front of her. She deliberately does not ask the man to take a seat even as he stands next to the one positioned in front of her desk. No need to make him comfortable. This won't take long.

"Yes, I've just been reading about you 'knowing' one of the detectives involved in this case and what type of 'liaising' you're talking about. In fact you 'knew' the detective that is the focus of this case for a little over six months didn't you?" she asks, her words dripping with sarcasm.

Her tone causes a brief flash of uncertainty across Sorensen's face, "Ah yes, Detective Beckett and I dated before I was transferred to Boston. Because of that and the success we had on our last case together I think I will be ideally suited to assist you with dealing with Kate's…,I mean Detective Beckett's team."

She locks her gaze with Sorenson's as she wants to make it perfectly clear to him that she means everything she about to say to him, "I think the opposite will be the case and I am not about to let you to use this case as another excuse to try and hook up with your ex-girlfriend."

Jordan watches as Sorenson's face flushes red at her implication and he voices as much, "Agent Shaw, I protest that is not what this is….."

She holds up her hand to stop the man's protest and proceeds to let him know exactly what she thinks of him, "No Agent Sorenson that is exactly what you are hoping for again here and is exactly what you tried to do last year. What do you think this is? That the FBI is just you own personal dating service? Because I find it very curious that, a month after posting back to New York, you specifically requested Detective Beckett's involvement in your kidnapping case last year. Specifically requested her even though she is a homicide detective and not a member of the NYPD SVU team that would have been the more appropriate local personnel to work with. It looks to me that you didn't have the guts to just call her when you got back into town but instead decided to use a case as an excuse to approach her. That you decided that you would use the abduction of a _child_ as an excuse to try and get back together with your old girlfriend. I think that is highly unprofessional and personally distasteful. In fact, given your past personal relationship with Detective Beckett I think your presence would be a wholly disruptive and distracting element that this investigation does not need. I don't know how the hell you sold your little matchmaking exercise to your supervisor last time but there is no way I'm going to let you within a hundred city blocks of this investigation."

"But Detective Beckett was instrumental in solving that case and finding the girl alive so I think I was more than justified in requesting her involvement," protests Sorenson in vain.

Jordan keeps her glare fixed on him as she responds, "Oh yes, she and her team were the ones to solve that case and that doesn't speak well of your abilities Agent. In fact all that tells me is that I am better off working with Detective Beckett and her people and that you have nothing to offer that will add to the resolution of this case. On top of that I find your judgment suspect where Detective Beckett is concerned as demonstrated by the reason you were shot last year. You jeopardised the safety of a witness in a major RICO case just because your old girlfriend asked you for a favour. You're just lucky that Detective Beckett was able to lure that contract killer into a trap and so she was able to be turned into a federal witness. At least Detective Beckett is able to make up for her mistakes. No, I see absolutely no reason that you would not be anything but a hindrance to this investigation and also that you have no skills that would be an asset in catching this killer."

Sorenson's mouth has fallen open and his face has gotten even redder at the dressing down from the senior agent. He's been caught out and there is nothing he can say. Jordan Shaw is a star in the FBI. An agent that is going to be Deputy Director or maybe even Director by the end of her career. Therefore he can't say or do anything but stand there and take Jordan's uncomfortably accurate analysis of his motivations. He should have known better than try and put one by a profiler as accomplished as Jordan.

Before Sorenson can say another word Agent Avery sticks his head into the office and says, "Jordan, we've just got word. There's been another murder. The body's at the Central Park Carousel. NYPD are already on the scene."

"OK, thanks Avery. Gather the troops and load them into the Suburbans. I'll be down momentarily and we'll head out. That is if you have nothing more to say Agent Sorenson?" she calls over Sorenson's shoulder before turning back to the now far from smug Agent.

"Ah no, Agent Shaw. Nothing further," Sorenson replies through gritted teeth and then turns on his heels and slinks out of the office.

Jordan watches the receding back of the Agent and shakes her head. Seriously, how transparent can a man be? She wants to solve this case as quickly as possible and having Sorenson along trying to get into Detective Beckett's pants will just get in her way. That and she can't abide that he would even think of using an active investigation for his own personal reasons, again. She's going to have to make sure that man isn't let anywhere near any of her future investigations.

As she stands and shrugs on her trench coat she ponders the detective she is about to meet. It speaks well of Beckett that she didn't get back together with Sorenson even after the guilt she no doubt felt after he was shot. Jordan's profiling skills makes her think that the Detective was probably also still cut up about Sorenson leaving her for that job in Boston. The chauvinist probably suggested at the time that she leave her job with the NYPD and follow him to Boston. She could only see that happening if the couple were truly in love and she definitely didn't get that sense from Sorenson. No, he was just looking for another chance for a fling and the minute a better offer came along he would be out the door.

Jordan hopes that the detective saw through the man just as Jordan has and hopefully that indicates that she will be an asset in catching this killer. The quicker they catch this guy the quicker she can get back home to her family.

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_A/N: This came to me after recently re-watching 1x9 Little Girl Lost. I've always thought that of all of Beckett's exes that Sorenson was a particular douche for the reasons that I give in this chapter. This is my opinion. Others no doubt have their own and may even think he's not that bad. Also please excuse the small 'Criminal Minds' mention. Guess what was on my TV in the background as I was writing this. It may have also resulted in Jordan being made a Supervisory Special Agent and not just Special Agent as she is referred to in the episode. I just thought someone in her position would be an SSA._

_It seems to me that reading some of the many great fics on this site that fans really dislike the various exes of Beckett and Castle and in many cases there are more reasons for this 'hate' than they are just not Beckett or C__astle. In Beckett's case a lot of attention is paid to Demming and Josh and they often come out bad in fanfics (for example there is a good fic in progress at the moment by Desperate Derelict called 'Killing Time' where Demming is a really sleazy guy) yet Sorenson seems to be forgotten. Not always but I think that because he was only in season one he sometimes gets overlooked. I therefore came up with this scene and then thought why not do chapters on the other exes, both Beckett's and Castle's, and address some of the reasons I think that they are not liked by fans. Again they will be my opinion and may not be the opinions of others I just thought I'd express them in some scenes._

_So there will be more chapters to this but don't expect regular updates. Life, work and my own particular brand of procrastination will mean that there might be a little while before the next chapter. Another delay is that I'm also currently working on a couple of long multi-chapter fics that have me inspired and which I will hopefully have the first chapters for up soon._

_I hope you all enjoy this and that you are managing to make it through yet another short hiatus in season 7 and the wait on whether or not our favourite show is going to continue. : )_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N : Here is the first of Castle's exes from the point of view of our favourite diva in another missing scene, this time from 2x12 A Rose for Everafter._

_Disclaimer : Castle is the creation of AWM and the property of ABC and Milmar. This is me just playing with what they created for a bit._

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Martha pours herself a glass of Chablis as she hears the front door of the loft close behind her and she sighs. Oh dear, she thinks, what is that boy of hers going to do now? Wine glass in hand she walks back into Richard's office and walks over to the book case and pulls down the same, leather-bound notebook that her son had just been perusing. Opening it she reads the dedication written there in Richard's distinctive handwriting, "For Kyra Blaine, you make the stars shine."

The red-haired diva shakes her head as she remembers the woman, virtually a girl back then, and what she'd meant and ultimately did to her son. The first time she met Kyra she knew this one was different. The look of adoration and love she saw in Richard's eyes, as he looked at the girl, was something she'd not seen before in him. He'd never had that look for any of his previous girlfriends so she'd known, as only a mother could, that her son was truly in love for the first time. She couldn't of been more pleased at the time that Richard had found such a love. It was just a pity it didn't last.

After three years, during which she'd seen Richard at his happiest, it was all suddenly over. At the time she had been busy with a touring theatre company so she didn't get the full story until much later but by then the damage had been done. For when she had finally seen her son, a month after Kyra had left him, she had seen that love replaced by a hurt that, like the love it replaced, she had never seen in his eyes before. That hurt had stayed with him for a long time. So long in fact that it had led her to take a direct hand in his love life for the first and last time.

Martha shakes her head again as she remembers the mistake she made in introducing Richard to Meredith in an attempt to get him to move on from Kyra. Well at least it wasn't a total mistake as that relationship created one of the greatest treasures of her and Richard's lives, Alexis. It had been a mistake however for her to introduce her heartbroken and vulnerable son to a woman without an empathetic bone in her body. She just wanted Richard to have some fun but she should have known better that Richard would have gripped onto any opportunity to feel something positive again to try and compensate for Kyra's rejection.

For all his easygoing nature her son has always felt deeply and so hurt just as deeply so she should not have been surprised that he would try and displace that hurt in the arms of an uncomplicated other. Behind his gregarious and charming persona she knows there is still a little boy fearful of rejection and therefore longing for acceptance. At least striving for acceptance had driven the success of his writing career to some extent but it did leave him vulnerable, sometimes, when matters of the heart were involved.

With some long held guilt she thinks that part of the reason he is this way is because of their early life together. When he was a child she tried to give him as stable a home as possible but as a struggling actress that wasn't always possible. Richard's inability to settle in and his acting out at his numerous boarding schools were a result of this. Also, the fact that he didn't have a father figure to look up to weighed on her and left no doubt in her mind as one of the primary sources, along with their constant moving around the country as she followed roles, for Richard always seeking to be accepted and liked wherever he went.

That basic insecurity in him seemed to become amplified after Kyra's rejection and his attitude to women changed. He has always been charming and chivalrous with women but she could see him holding part of himself back from his romantic partners after Kyra. That he wasn't prepared to expose all of his feelings again to the damage caused by his first true love not feeling the same for him. Those reservations stopped him from connecting fully with his subsequent girlfriends and she had always thought that it was one of the many reasons why his two marriages didn't work.

Not that she can talk, she thinks ruefully as she takes another sip of her wine and walks back into the living room and sits on the couch. No, her record with relationships and marriage are hardly shining examples of happiness and longevity but at least she's had some fun. Sometimes she thinks that Richard isn't prepared to risk his heart too much so that he doesn't get hurt again. Like her he still has fun but she can see that he doesn't fully commit and no doubt his partner at the time picks up on that. In fact the only relationship she's seen him fully open himself up to since Kyra has been his relationship as a father to Alexis. As is should be. He is truly open with Alexis and if only he could be just as open with the more potentially serious women he might date and not the parade of bimbos and celebutaunts that he dallied with since Gina. Yet even that has changed recently which has given her some hope that her darling son has finally decided to put his insecurities behind him and look for something real.

Ever since a certain hazel eyed detective walked into his life she had started to see a change in her son. For the first time in a long time he seems to be interested in a woman for more than a fling or as a potential mother figure for Alexis. That he is perhaps prepared to open himself up to another person and trust himself and his inner self to that person has warmed her heart. Again for the first time in a long time she has become interested in the romantic potential of a woman in Richard's life because in Katherine Beckett she sees someone that could be very good for her son. Why else did she lend those jewels to the beautiful detective when they went to that charity ball last year. It is another reason why she is questioning his decision to get involved with Kyra Blaine's life again, right in front of said detective. Not to mention that, as she said to him, the woman is about to get married. Really what is he thinking?

Ok, he may not have a choice being in the middle of a murder investigation and this whole scenario just falling into his lap, as it were, but he seems to be getting involved more than he should and letting the past influence his thinking. The very subjective, pleasant past. The look on his face as he'd looked at that loaded gun of a photograph of himself and Kyra as they were showed that he was revelling in the good memories of that time.

It had been a heady time for the couple. Richard was in the middle of the success of his first two books and the pair had lived almost a fairy-tale like life that was carefree and full of fun and contentment. Over the three years the two young people had been together she had watched Richard become more and more attached to Kyra and of the feelings of love and trust he had in her. Unfortunately, as he found, the woman wasn't ready for the same level of commitment that he seemed to feel was the natural progression of their relationship.

She remembers him telling her once that he had been so blindsided when he'd finally realised that Kyra didn't feel the same way about him than he did for her that he scarcely could believe it at the time. It had shaken his own belief in his judgement when it came to his heart and it was why he never followed Kyra to London and try and save their relationship.

While she was heartbroken for her son she really couldn't blame Kyra. They were both so young and the circumstances of their life were so unreal at the time that it would be difficult to know whether the feelings they had for each other were true lifelong love or just affection caught up in the moment. In hindsight if they had got married then, as Richard wanted, she is not sure that Kyra would not have ended up being more than just the first Mrs Castle after time and the realities of life became brought them crashing down. Maybe not. Maybe they could have had one of the loves of the ages and still be married now but the fact that Kyra hadn't been ready then makes her think not. Perhaps Kyra leaving him ultimately was a good thing for them both, despite the anguish it caused at the time.

Not that Richard seemed to be remembering that as he had looked at that photograph. Oh, no he was definitely thinking of the time of wine and roses and not how it ended. He also was obviously ignoring a major downside of a relationship with Kyra Blaine. Her mother, Sheila. She recalled when the couple had moved into that charming little apartment during their last year of college. The most responsible use of Richard's writing money at that time. She had been invited to dinner at their new home and had met Kyra's abrasive mother for the first time. It had taken all of her considerable acting talent to hold back from engaging in a heated argument with the disagreeable woman that night.

While she had thought that the couple's new place was cosy and sweet she could see the look of distaste on Shelia's face at her daughter's accommodations. On top of that she made no secret that night of her disdain for Richard, the way he made his living and lived his life. For the sake of the look of love that he had been giving Kyra that night she had bitten her tongue on more than one occasion so not to cause a scene and rush to the defence of her son in response to some caustic remarks from that harpy. That woman really had been living up to the stereotype of a disapproving potential mother-in-law. In fact Martha had used some of Shelia Blaine's disagreeable personality traits when portraying some of her more dislikeable characters on stage and screen over the years.

So now, as usual, Richard is running blindly in and not really thinking of the consequences. That's who he is, she knows, but it still doesn't mean that she isn't going to try and remind him that the past is the past and maybe it should be left there. What does he think? That the woman is going to forget all about why she left him in the first place, abandon her husband at the altar and run away with him? What about his writing, his life in New York with herself and Alexis and his new found 'job' shadowing Detective Beckett? Is he just going to put that all aside for some dream of a relationship with Kyra trying to recapture the golden days of their youth? Forgetting that they are both older and with widely different experiences under their belts making them such different people from whom they were back then.

Martha sighs again and downs the rest of her wine. She rises from the couch and makes her way over to the kitchen island where she left the open bottle of wine. Pouring herself another generous measure she contemplates what Richard might do. Right now he's probably going to do something to make a fool of himself and probably come close to getting himself kicked off of the investigation. That might not be such a bad thing. At least he will be out of the direct line of temptation. He should forget all about lost loves and be concentrating on the future.

In her mind he should be looking to a future that includes and a beautiful, driven, professional woman that could mean so much more to him.

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_A/N :So this chapter took a while to get out . I am writing this while on a work trip and twice my tablet decided not to save my additions so I've rewritten this chapter at least three times. I'm still not happy with it but wanted to get somthing out for Castle Monday. As to Kyra I don't diislike her and I don't think most fans do either. Again it was early in the series when she arrived and some might argue that 2x12 was the first time the writers seriously shipped Beckett and Castle (Lanie's prodding of Beckett and the final line to Beckett from Kyra as examples). That being said I do think that like all first loves she left a lasting impression on Castle and so I came up with these possible effects. I could be wrong and be OOC but it's just my opinion. In my mind she is the ex of Castle that is the one that suffers for just not being Beckett. I do think that her episode would be even more interesting if it had turned up in Season 4 say with the impact Castle's lost love turning up just as Caskett were getting close while Kate was still trying to work up to a relationship._

_In any case I hope you all enjoy the new episode tonight. _


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N : An additional scene after the end of 6x13 Limelight_

_Disclaimer : I do not own Castle. AWM, ABC and Milmar do._

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Captain Gates watches the receding back of the tall dark haired detective as he leaves her office. She sees the detective walk past Esposito's desk and the Latino detective glances up briefly at the man but instead of offering a greeting or any form of acknowledgement Esposito just as quickly averts his gaze from the passing man and tries to look absorbed with the file in front of him.

Hmm, that's curious. She's never seen Esposito react that way to someone before. She looks down at the transfer request that is on the desk in front of her and which the same detective that just left her office had placed there. Maybe this request has something to do with it. Well, before she forwards this up the chain she needs to find out the real reason for the transfer and not the standard "I feel like a change will be good for future advancement" line that the man had given her while handing her the request.

Gates gets up from behind her desk, heads out of her office and heads towards the elevator. A few moments later she is in the basement of the precinct and walking down the dark corridor leading to the Evidence and Records storage room. Many a time during her career in the Internal Affairs Bureau she had been called upon to investigate personnel in E &amp; R rooms in a variety of precincts. During those investigations she had found that those very same personnel were often the ones that knew all there is to know about what is going on in a precinct, both official and personal.

Due to the nature of their jobs, everyone, from all the various divisions in a precinct interact with them and more often than not gossip with them. Then even if they didn't gossip with them directly visitors to the E &amp; R rooms tended to forget that the personnel that worked there were there and often have personal conversations with co-workers right in front of them. Often the personnel in the E &amp; R rooms would be proactive in gathering information and have sources amongst the other officers of the precinct to supply them with gossip. Just like a spy master running a group of operatives. In the end if you wanted to know what's what in a precinct then those working in the E &amp; R room were the ones to know.

So upon taking up her appointment as Captain of the 12th one of the first things she'd done was make the acquaintance of the sergeant in charge of the 12th's Evidence and Records Room. She'd managed to gain the man's confidence and now he was her most valuable source for all that was going on in her house behind her back and the background of those that worked for her. It was him that had confirmed the suspicions that had been raised in her mind about the nature of the relationship between Castle and Beckett after what she'd seen during Alexis Castle's abduction. She and he had also been lucky that her source was on leave when all that material relating to the 3XK case went missing recently because the staff that were on duty at the time are still on suspension.

She turns a corner of the corridor and sees in front of her the wire caged entrance to the said room. Striding up to the counter with the slot cut into the wire allowing papers and material to be passed back and forth she raps her wedding ring on the wood counter top. The sharp sound has the middle aged, fair haired, round faced and slightly overweight sergeant, sitting at the desk behind the counter, to raise his head from the computer monitor in front of him.

The sergeant grins at the sight of his superior and rises to his feet as he greets her, "Captain, sir. How are you?"

"Sergeant Kelly, good to see you again. I'm fine. How's the family?" she asks good naturedly. Sergeant Kelly is the only officer with whom she didn't use her stern Captain's persona, at least not when they were alone. If other officers were present then she would be the tough, stern, no-nonsense Captain but times like now she could relax. Being the stern Captain wouldn't get the information she needed from the genial sergeant in front of her.

"Oh the kids are great, not so little Jeannie is starting at Hudson next semester so Ali and I will have an empty nest soon and we are looking forward to it. What can I do for you sir?" asks Sergeant Kelly pleasantly.

"I am looking for your unique insight into one of my people, as usual," she responds conspiratorially to the man.

Kelly's smile changes to an equally conspiring grin, "Of course, who do you want to know about?"

"What can you tell me about Detective Demming in Robbery, why he might suddenly want a transfer and why Detective Esposito in Homicide might be uncomfortable talking to him?" she asks.

Kelly holds his grin but instead of answering he picks up a copy of the New York Ledger from the desk in front of him and with a tap of a finger indicates an article on page six. Looking closer Gates recognises the article as one she'd read herself this morning, the notification of the engagement of Richard Castle and Detective Beckett.

She raises her eyebrows in surprise as she asks, "What would Castle and Beckett's engagement have to do with this?"

The sergeant shrugs his shoulders as he responds, "Well, I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure it all goes back to what happened about four years ago. It was about a year and a half after Castle started shadowing Beckett and a little over a year before you took command. About then Beckett and Demming became an item. They apparently met sparing in the precinct gym and not soon after he helped her and her team on a couple of cases. From what my buddy Ryan told me at the time that during those cases Demming virtually took Castle's place in the investigations."

"Oh and I assume that Mr Castle didn't appreciate that," offers Gates.

Kelly nods his head, "Your right because not soon after that Castle announces that he has done enough research and is taking a break from shadowing Beckett for the summer to do some writing. The implication was that he would be back but some thought that he was leaving for good. In light of how we now know they feel about each other there were a few, including Esposito, who thought Castle was leaving because of Beckett's relationship with Demming."

"But obviously that didn't last because when I took over Castle was here and there was no notification in Beckett's file that she was in a relationship with another detective in the same precinct. Ok, so if Demming still holds a candle for Beckett he might be uncomfortable with her now being engaged to Castle so that might go to explain his request for transfer. Yet that doesn't quite explain Esposito's behaviour towards Demming?" questions Gates.

"Ah no, it didn't last. From a discussion I happened to hear between Ryan and Esposito, as they were lodging some evidence not soon after, that Esposito had something to do with it. From what I heard apparently after Castle announced he was leaving Esposito had a word with Beckett and told her that the reason he was leaving was because of her relationship with Demming. Then surprise, surprise Beckett dumps Demming. Though why it took a talk from Esposito for her to see what everyone else could see, that Castle was in love with her, I'll never understand," says Kelly.

"Oh don't get me started on how clueless that pair have been about their feelings towards each other. When I started and was forced to allow Castle back as Beckett's partner I thought that maybe it was because they were together. However I watched them all that first year and while they obviously cared for each other, more than average partners, both or one of them was obviously denying how they really felt about each other," Gates pauses and taps a finger to her lips as she ponders what she's been told. "So Esposito feels responsible for Beckett dumping Demming so he's far from comfortable talking to Demming given his perceived role in their break-up. However if Beckett is supposed to have dumped Demming for Castle then why did it take so long for them to get together?" asks a confused Gates.

Kelly shrugs at that, "As you said sir, those two used to be particularly clueless about how they felt about each other. All I know is that Castle still took the summer off that year. He stayed away and didn't come back until a case involving an acquaintance of his brought him back. It took a couple of years but they eventually got their heads out of their asses and now we're here with them getting married."

"So the upshot of it all is that Detective Demming unfortunately got caught in the middle of two people that loved each other but weren't ready to admit it to themselves. I would have thought that after all this time that Demming would have moved on. If he was so put out by Beckett's rejection why didn't he transfer back then?" queries Gates.

"Maybe he thought that he might get another chance with Beckett someday. From what I know and from what I can see from my own dealings with the man he's not a bad guy but he couldn't compete with how that pair feel about each other. Even if they really didn't know how much at the time," responds Kelly.

"Well that explains things. I tell you Sergeant sometimes I think I command the cast of a soap opera and not a precinct. Thank you for the information. The reasons for Demming's request and Esposito's reaction are a lot clearer now. I'll let you get back to your duties," Gates nods in thanks as she turns to leave.

"Any time, sir," replies a smiling Sergeant Kelly to Gates' departing figure.

As Gates makes her way back to her office she reflects on Detective Demming's transfer request. In some ways the man was a fool to think he had a chance with Beckett after all this time. As well that he thought that he could turn Beckett away from Castle. She doesn't think she's seen a couple more in love than those two.

She's never really understood it. She can't understand how such a professional and serious detective like Beckett could be so in love with such an unprofessional goof ball like Castle. That's probably why Demming got involved with Beckett in the first place because he couldn't see how she could be interested in Castle. He probably thought that they were both good detectives then they had more in common than Beckett has with Castle.

Of course relationships with people who are similar don't always work and more often than not the old saying of opposites attract is more often the case. While she and her husband are very alike she acknowledges that some people need partners with traits that fill any gaps that they have in their own personas.

As Gates enters the elevator and presses the button for the homicide floor she thinks that's maybe why Beckett and Castle are probably perfect for each other and why Beckett and Demming would never work. She's seen the fun that Castle has brought to Beckett's life and she has seen that the detective has somewhat of a calming influence on the overgrown child that is Castle. Like Sergeant Kelly she's had her own interactions with Detective Demming as his commanding officer and she's liked what she's seen. She's seen a straight laced, serious detective that perhaps only lacked a little imagination. That was probably it. Castle is all imagination and that is obviously a particular draw for Beckett. The woman must have realised that on top of the push she got from Esposito and decided that Demming wasn't what she was looking for. If nothing else perhaps the relationship with Demming and the manner of its ending made Detective Beckett think more directly about how she felt about her writer shadow and so maybe the couple should thank Demming for that.

Not that she thinks Mr Castle will be doing much thanking. Unbeknownst to the man she has read all of his books and, much to her surprise, she likes them. Even if the Captain that took over from Montrose was ineffectual and called Wally Irons. An obvious play on her own "Iron" Gates nickname but at least she wasn't called Schlemming and made it barely as a sideline character in the books like Demming. Now she knows the background she can now see why Castle wrote such an unflattering name and insignificant role for his rival. Honestly though, the man can be as subtle as a freight train sometimes.

The elevator doors open and she walks out onto the homicide floor. On the way back to her office she passes the desk of the recently engaged detective and her fiancé. She observes them both sitting there. Beckett is hunched over some paperwork and Castle in that chair by her desk that only he seems to be permitted to sit in doing something most likely frivolous on his phone. What most people can't see but she can as she passes is that under the top of the desk the pair are holding hands loosely.

Gates clears her throat loudly as she passes the couple. She takes some satisfaction from the jump her presence gets from Castle, the sudden disengaging of their hands and the guilty look that passes across Beckett's face. While she's come to support their relationship she's told them to keep it professional in the precinct and it doesn't hurt to remind them of that from time to time.

She enters her office, resumes her seat behind her desk and picks up Detective Demming's transfer request. The man really didn't stand a chance. Well if he thinks he can do better elsewhere then she's not going to stop him. She won't have a detective distracted by his personal feelings moping around her house so she'll forward his request to 1PP and she'll give it her endorsement.

After signing the relevant section of the form she places it in her OUT tray and then glances back out to the bullpen where Beckett and Castle are sitting. Yes, perhaps while Demming was with Beckett they had fun and she might have even been happy with him but ultimately he wasn't the man for Beckett. She's seen for a while now that nothing is going to get between Beckett and Castle and if they try they don't last long.

* * *

_A/N : So again as some others have said I think Demming suffers because he is a plausible alternative to Castle for the affections of Beckett. As I try to cover in this chapter he was ultimately doomed as nothing was going to stop Caskett, eventually._

_Thank you to everyone reading, reviewing, faving and following. I appreciate it._

_Also a very belated Happy Birthday to Stana and congratulations on her wedding. May she have found her 'one and done'._


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N : Set during 5x10 Significant Others. Following Mother's Day here in Oz here is the chapter featuring one of the worst mothers in the Castle universe._

_Disclaimer : I do not own Castle. AWM, ABC and Milmar do._

* * *

Alexis Castle sits in her bed, blankets up to her chest and feeling miserable. There are so many reasons why she is feeling this way. Having mono is the obvious one but also right up there is that her mother is here, in the loft, staying with them.

Don't get her wrong she loves her mom and had really been looking forward to spending time with her in Paris. In Paris, not here, in her home when the father's girlfriend, Kate Beckett, is staying with them. The same girlfriend that he has spent the last four years pining over and now that they are finally together here her mother is sticking her nose in.

She knows her mom and seen the looks that she keeps shooting at Detective Beckett. For all her protestations that she is here for her while she is ill Alexis knows she is really here to check out how serious Dad's relationship with his muse is and mark her territory. She's not here to console and look after her daughter in her time of need like she says or should. No, she's just involving herself in her father's love life for no other reason because she can.

It pisses her off actually. She'd come to terms long ago with her mother's selfishness and absence from her life. She's become resigned to make the most of those few times she's been able to see her over the years. Yet here she is using one of those rare times as an excuse to inject herself between her father and his new girlfriend. That same girlfriend that she is really hoping will be his last one.

She and Grams have put so much time, effort and emotional investment in supporting and encouraging dad's relationship with Detective Beckett. Even when the danger to both his person and his heart while he followed Detective Beckett had them both so worried for him. Regardless, for so long they had despaired that, despite how he obviously feels for the beautiful detective, they would ever get together. Now that they finally are here is her mom gleefully throwing a spanner into the relationship works.

It also depresses her that her mom can still affect her and her dad like this. That regardless of her history and what they expect from her as a result that she still can just waltz in and twist up her family like this. It was a mistake that she ever told her how serious Dad's relationship with Detective Beckett is. As soon as she told her she knew she'd made an error just from the look that came across her mother's face. A suspicious and conniving look. Her mother obviously feels threatened at the significance of Dad's relationship with Detective Beckett and is here to test the nature of it while trying to mark her spot in their lives. Not that she has that significant of a place, especially since Dad started shadowing Detective Beckett.

Alexis is not naive. She knows what her mother is. An over the top, flamboyant, self-centred woman that, for an actress, shows a surprising lack of empathy with people even if they are her own daughter. She knows why her parents got divorced. Not from her Dad. No, he has always been very careful not to disparage her mother to her or in front of her, much. Her grandmother however has no such qualms and after she had specifically asked her one day why her parents broke up Grams told her of her mother's cheating. That her father came home one day to find her mother in bed with her director. That she then left, moved to LA and served her Dad with divorce papers from across the country without even trying to reconcile.

As a result she blames her mother for some of her Dad's attitude to relationships with women and how hard he finds it to truly let them in and trust them with his heart. She's heard, again from Grams, of her Dad's first true love, Kyra Blaine, and how her leaving broke his heart. Then her mom cheats on him and as a result he seems to develop deep seated insecurities about how he sees women and his life. That he is always fearful they will leave him and so he doesn't allow them in enough to make a lasting relationship.

For a long time, with his brief marriage to Gina an exception, he would only have fleeting, superficial trysts with women and she lays a lot of that at her mother's infidelity. Again he has been very careful to keep his love life from her but she reads and sees what goes on around her and she has no allusions about what her father used to get up to on some of his nights out. It was also why she thinks he didn't protest too much when Paula and Gina suggested his playboy image to promote his books.

Now here he is finally risking his heart for something real with a woman that Alexis herself looks up to and her aggravting mother just has to get involved. She has come to terms with how her mother is, most of the time, but it is times like this that she wishes her mother could be just that. A true mother to her.

Alexis knows that she still has her own abandonment issues when it comes to her mom. She remembers well the feelings of rejection and disappointment she's felt over the years at the number of times her mother has stood her up. The times her mom has made arrangements to visit her here in New York, be there for milestones like birthdays and graduations or for her own trips to LA to see her only for her to cancel so that she could pursue acting roles or to do some 'networking'. Networking that often involved accompanying a producer or director on some exotic getaway. While she acknowledges that she has somewhat come to terms with the fact that she will always be second place behind her mom's acting career she can't help it if it doesn't hurt.

Fortunately she has her Dad and he has always tried to make up for her mom whenever her last minute rescheduling disrupts their plans. In some ways she doesn't mind that her mom stood her up from time to tie because of the creative and fun ways her dad would come up with to try and distract her from her mother's lack of familial responsibility. She treasures those blanket forts, trips to the zoo, museum, library and Coney Island, cooking lessons, epic laser tag battles and all night movie marathons that he would divert her with. He would always put on hold whatever plans he might have had at the time to be there for her and for that she is forever grateful. It was one of the many reasons why she and her dad are so close. She knows, in her bones, that he will always be there for her and her mom won't.

Then there is her mom's inconsiderate and flighty nature. That she thinks she can just swoop in whenever she likes and whisk her off for some shopping or lunch in Paris and totally disregarding whatever her own commitments are. At one time she might have thought that she was trying to make up for standing her up so many times but in reality she knows that her mother doesn't think about others that much. That she only thinks about herself and even if she does thinks about others or even her own daughter that it is always on her own terms, for her own enjoyment or what is in it for her.

Sure, she's had fun from time to time with her mom and her dad probably had fun with her when they were married but in the end there has to be something more than good times to make a meaningful relationship. Another confidence from her Grams is her dad's nickname for her mom, the deep fried Twinkie. While she was slightly mortified that he would call her mom that as time has passed she has seen the reality in that moniker. In the end her mother is all about enjoyment and she can probably count on one hand the number of serious conversations she's had with her. Yet in the four years she's known Detective Beckett she's almost had as many meaningful and helpful discussions with the insightful detective. That is another reason why she is so invested in her dad and Detective Beckett's relationship and her hopes that it will last.

This current situation of her mother invading the loft to interfere with her dad's current relationship is just a further example of her venal personality. She's probably just worried that now that her dad is looking at a hopefully long term future with Detective Beckett that her influence over him and access to his wallet will diminish.

Oh, she hopes so. Alexis is ready to have a female role model in her life that she can respect. As she said she loves her mother and she definitely loves her Grams but in Detective Beckett she sees a woman that is strong, independent and yet still wholly feminine. She looks up to her like no other woman before and is eagerly anticipating calling her step-mother someday. All that despite the sometimes torturous route her dad's and Detective Beckett's romance has taken. That her mother would use her illness to interfere with that further reduces her own estimation of her mother's sincerity.

Again tonight, instead of being home with her sick daughter, her mother is out having dinner with her father's girlfriend and she's sure she's not doing it just to be friendly. No, her mother has an agenda and it's to interfere in her dad's love life. Ughh, why does her mother have the make things so hard? She can see the strain that her mother's presence is putting on her dad's and Detective Beckett's burgeoning relationship. As usual her dad is letting her mother twist him around her little finger so she's going to have to do something otherwise he and her mother are going to ruin things.

Almost like the universe is reading her mind there is a knock on her bedroom door and a second later her mother's perfectly quaffed red haired head pokes its way into her room.

"Oh, good sweetie. You're awake. I just wanted to say goodnight," says her mother, Meredith Harper, as she steps fully into her bedroom.

"Hi Mom. How was your dinner with Detective Beckett?" asks a very self-interested Alexis.

Meredith closes the door behind her and walks over and sits on the edge of Alexis' bed and conspiratorially says, "Well, she's definitely a step up from some of the women your father has dated in the past. She's a serious person but has a surprising fun side and she's nearly as beautiful as me. I can almost see what your father see's in her. You are right this is serious."

Alexis watches as a look of discomfort and contemplation crosses her mother's face. Ok, time to nip this in the bud and do what her father is seems to be incapable of doing.

"So Mom, I was thinking. My mono isn't going away anytime soon and with how lethargic it makes me it's no fun for you hanging around here. The tickets and bookings are still all in place for our trip. Why don't you go ahead and enjoy it. Dad's already paid for it all but I'm not going to shake this so you should go and enjoy yourself. At least one of us should have fun in the city of lights," proposes Alexis with what she hopes is an innocent look on her face.

Meredith cocks her head to one side as she contemplates Alexis' words. Alexis can see the cogs turning in her head and the small smile that appears on her face. She knows that look. Her mother is obviously contemplating the appeal of a free trip to Paris. For an actress she is remarkably easy to read.

"You know, you're right sweetie. It would be a shame to waste such a trip but I don't want to seem like I'm abandoning you," responds Meredith eagerly while throwing out the final sentiment so that she doesn't seem too eager.

"Oh, I'll be fine mom. The doctor said I just have to let this run its course and it's been really great that you could come and look after me as much as you have. I just don't want to be the reason for you to miss out on enjoying yourself in Paris," asserts Alexis hoping she's not laying it on too thick. She almost sighs in relief when she sees the fake pout appear on her mother's face.

"But Alexis, I was so looking forward to us walking along the Champs-Elysees, going shopping in all those designer stores and eating the best French cuisine and doing that as mother and daughter," complains Meredith insincerely.

Alexis knows she's got her. Gee and she thought her dad could act like a child sometimes but her mother gives him a run for his money. Why is she is the only adult in this family. Yet another reason she hopes Detective Beckett stays with her dad. At least that way she'll have someone close to her own mental age to talk to.

It makes her a little sad that her mother is so transparently eager to take a free trip regardless of whether she is with her or not. She is just too easy to read. All her protests now are just to cover that eagerness.

"I know mom, I was looking forward to it too but if you go at least one of us still gets to enjoy a holiday. You go, I'll be fine. We'll go together another time," Alexis reassures her, patting her hand.

"If you're sure sweetheart. Ok, I'll go pack and catch a flight tomorrow. I think I've seen all I can see here anyway," ends Meredith and Alexis knows she's referring to the real reason for her visit to the loft which was unfortunately not to tend to her.

"Goodnight Alexis," calls Meredith as she rises from the bed and makes her way out of the bedroom.

"Nite, Mom," responds Alexis.

Once her bedroom door is closed behind her mother Alexis sighs with relief. That was easy. She wishes her mother wasn't the way she is but there's nothing she can do about it. Well at least now she'll get out of everyone's hair and next time hopefully her dad won't let her stay here. Alexis wants to spend more time with her mother but not as an excuse for her to spy on and interfere with dad's and Detective Beckett's relationship.

As she reaches over to turn off her bedside lamp she hopes that her mother didn't get into Detective Beckett's head tonight because she's really looking forward to what her family will be like with the detective as a part of it.

* * *

_A/N : So Meredith is probably the the most disliked of all the exes and not just of Castle's. She's not written with many redeeming features. Upon re-watching Significant Others before writing this I was reminded of how she started the whole ball rolling of Beckett's insecurities regarding the relationship with Castle and the choices the writers had her make in the later part of season 6. At least it led to thier engagement. _

_Thanks again to everyone reviewing, following and faving this. I really appreciate you all._

_Hooray, for Castle's renewal. I just know the hiatus will drag._


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N : An addition to a scene from 4x1 Rise. Time for DMB._

_Disclaimer : Castle is not mine. It belongs to ABC._

* * *

Jim Beckett watches the receding back of his daughter's boyfriend, Doctor Josh Davidson, as he storms down the hospital corridor and away from the drama and anguish he has left behind in his wake. He hears the faint voice of a woman and turns his attention to where the older red-headed woman is comforting the tall man who is still slumped against the same wall that Josh had just shoved him against.

"It's not your fault, Richard," she hears her say consolingly.

"No mother. He's right. It's all my fault. If I hadn't pushed and looked into her mother's murder none of this would have happened," responds Richard Castle, his voice despondent.

Before he can hear any more Jim turns away and walks a few steps further down the corridor away from everyone still grouped around the stricken novelist. Partly to give Rick and his mother some privacy, partly to distance himself slightly from worry that is rolling off the other occupants of the corridor, partly to try and gain his own small measure of solitude and partly to be closer to the room where they are operating on his Katie. The anger and indignation he had felt and expressed at the sight of Josh and Rick tussling while his daughter fights for her life quickly disintegrates as his own feelings of fear and anguish overtake him. He can't lose her not as well.

Ever since she donned that dark blue, almost black, uniform he has feared this day would come to pass. The day that he would lose her to her job. The same job that she took on as a result of them both loosing Johanna.

With a shaking hand he delves into his inside suit coat pocket and pulls out his cell phone. Waking it up he opens his contacts and scrolls through them until his sponsor's name appears. He holds his thumb over the name for a moment. He can feel the need that the stress of this situation is building in him. Or rather that it is eroding the hard learnt defences he has built up to combat the need that is always with him. The need to find release at the bottom of a bottle.

With a tightened grip on the phone he drops his hand down. No. He doesn't need to call Jack yet and he isn't going to drink. Not while Katie is in there. She's not dead and she won't die. She's too stubborn to start with, he thinks with a faint glimmer of hope, as he returns the phone to his coat pocket. He promises himself that while she lives he won't go down that path again. He has to be here for her. Has to be ready for when the doctor comes out and tells them all that she is going to be OK. Then he will do whatever she wants to support her to try and make up for that terrible time when he wasn't there for her as a father should.

He glances over his shoulder of the tableau of people still arrayed around the corridor all waiting anxiously for news of his daughter's fate. These people here, all of them he knows, through countless conversations with Katie, are as much family to her as he is. From the two men in the same uniforms as Katie's both situated at one side of the corridor. Javier Esposito is pacing back and forth while his partner, Kevin Ryan, is leaning against a wall, head down and running his fingers through his hair repeatedly. To the petite medical examiner, her best friend Lanie Parish, who had so valiantly fought to keep Katie alive at the cemetery and on the trip to the hospital. She stands there and comforts the red-headed young woman that had come so defiantly to her father's defence after Josh attacked Rick. To the mystery writer himself as he still stands, slumped against the wall with his mother at his side and a comforting arm on his shoulder.

And where, he thinks, is Josh? He's not here amongst these people who care about his daughter the most. No, he's stormed off in a huff. Yes, he is upset as a boyfriend should be that his girlfriend has been shot and is fighting for her life but is he here, with the people that love her and have arguably loved her for much longer than he has? No, he's not and at the moment he doesn't think he'd be particularly welcome either. From some things that Katie has said he knows that Josh doesn't necessarily get along with her precinct 'family' and that all seems to stem from some condescending comment he made when he first met them.

Then just like the young woman in the arms of Katie's best friend he had been outraged when Josh had attacked Rick and accused him of being the reason she was shot. The anger in his voice as he berated the two men and been fuelled by his own feelings of guilt and culpability. It was he after all that had gone to Rick and asked him to turn Katie away from her hunt for the man Lockwood and by extension the people that killed his wife.

That guilt all built on the long held guilt he has because of how he wasn't there for Katie after Johanna was killed. That he let his own grief and sorrow turn himself into a drunken wreak unable to be there for his daughter as she struggled with her own heartrending feelings of loss. She had to be so strong for the both of them at that time when she was so young and as a result built those walls around her heart to try and prevent it ever being so damaged again.

The strong-willed, tough, no-nonsense cop she became is not the same carefree, rebellious and loving teen is daughter was before Johanna was killed. That she felt she had to become that cop to try to get justice for Johanna and that he was too much of a sodden mess to stop her or at least influence her in her decision at the time is a source of his guilt. That is why he has his own feelings of responsibility for where she is right now. Lying on a cold operating table while a team of strangers work at keeping her alive.

He shakes his head as he recalls the look of anger on Josh's face as he had barrelled up to Rick. Yes the man is angry, just like Jim himself is angry but Jim thinks that he himself is as much if not more of an appropriate target of the doctor's anger because of his own part in Katie's journey to this place, this time. Then again he's never really liked the dark haired doctor and that might be another reason that he's glad that the man hasn't stuck around.

As he thinks about it he ponders that you would have thought that Josh would offer is condolences to his girlfriend's father instead of attacking her work partner. The man didn't even spare a look for himself or any of Katie's friends as he stormed off and if that wasn't an indication of the place he holds in Kate's life he doesn't know what is.

Not to mention that seeing him here, assaulting Katie's partner and affronting her friends, is just one of a handful of times he has actually laid eyes on the man. By Katie's own admission she had been dating the doctor for a while before she mentioned to him, her father, that she had a new man in her life.

Jim regards the depressed man, slouching to one side of the corridor. Not like Rick. Oh, no. Apparently the very first night after Rick had started shadowing Katie he had heard all about it as she had rung him to vent her frustrations at the time. Curious that it took so long for her to tell him about her first long term boyfriend since her relationship with Will Sorenson, not counting her brief dalliance with that Robbery Detective, and yet he heard all about Richard Castle from the very start.

Since she finally told him about Josh they had met a few times. The first time was when they had the obligatory meet the parent dinner soon after she told him about their relationship. That night Katie had seemed happy and Josh had been polite if a little patronizing at times but he's dealt with doctors and surgeons in particular before. Therefore he knows that sometimes they can think they're god's gift. Yet he could also see that he was a committed, intelligent, handsome, caring and honest man and therefore could see why Katie was attracted to him

It was another curious thing that during that evening, after they got past the story of how they met while out riding their motorcycles and after he asked after his daughter's day, that most of the evening had then been spent with Katie recounting the antics of her writer tag-along. All to the discomfort of her boyfriend if the look he observed on the doctor's face at the time was any indication. From then on he noticed that any mention of Kate's consultant partner would be received with a less than favourable audience by her boyfriend. So that simmering jealousy was probably another reason for Josh's attack. Jim wonders if Josh knows about the trip that Rick and Katie took to LA recently to track down Mike Royce's murderer. If so he would bet that would only add to that possible jealously the doctor is harbouring.

Jim also knows that the jealously isn't one way either given the nick name that Katie has told him that Rick has for Josh, Doctor Motorcycle Boy. He wonders sometimes why Katie doesn't see that name for the jealousy it is and therefore the feelings her partner has for her. Perhaps, as with a lot of things regarding her feelings for Rick she is ignoring them or at the very least she refuses to acknowledge them.

Yes, on the surface, his daughter dating a doctor that dedicates himself to helping those more unfortunate in the world by volunteering his time with Doctors Without Borders is any parent's dream. However the fact that as a result of that self-same travel that Josh's job entails Katie rarely sees the man and Jim therefore sees him even less and so he doubted whether the relationship would last. It also makes him question the doctor's commitment to his daughter. Besides him cancelling that one trip during that curious case that Katie still won't tell him about, Josh hasn't shown any reluctance at being separated from Katie so often by accepting these missions. Jim acknowledges that is a bit heartless to criticize a man for doing such noble work but as far as the realities of a relationship with Katie the circumstances aren't ideal.

Yet he knows that those same absences are probably why a relationship with Josh is so appealing to Katie, besides their mutual love of motorcycles. With the same guilt he thinks of the walls around his daughter's heart, what put them there and the part he played in their construction. A boyfriend that is absent half the time wouldn't test those walls. Not like a certain writer.

He'd well remembered the gloomy mood Katie had been in last summer and after a couple of conversations with her then, at their favourite diner, he had soon been able to read between the lines at its cause. At first he thought that it was because she had inexplicably broken off the budding relationship with that Detective Demming. Then he gleaned that it was because Rick had left for the summer and had done so on the arm of his ex-wife. In fact from the strength of Katie's reaction he had surmised that she was possibly more upset that he was back with his ex-wife and not just that he wasn't at the precinct as her partner.

Then, a couple of months later she starts dating Josh and a part of him didn't wonder if the fact that Rick was off in a relationship of his own didn't play some small part in Katie starting the relationship with the handsome doctor. Jim himself had seen the change in Katie since Rick started shadowing her and he has thought it was a good change. After Rick started following her he'd seen Katie become less serious, more fun-loving, more open and trusting of her heart. That openness had obviously also led to a weakening of her walls and led her to start considering the possibility of freeing her heart to another.

For a long while he had thought she would choose her favourite novelist if for no other reason than he seemed to be at least partly responsible for her new outlook on life. Also because that, after a rocky start, she had trusted Rick with the details of her hunt for Johanna's murderer. Something he knows she hasn't shared with Josh which to him is a further indication of the level of Katie's commitment to the doctor. Not to mention that Rick has stepped up as well with his payment of that one hundred thousand dollars to flush out Johanna's killer. He keeps meaning to tell Rick that he intends to pay him back for that someday. That trust that Katie has in Rick over Josh is why Jim went to Rick to ask him to try and stop Katie and not to her boyfriend, the man that should have that influence over his daughter. Again what does that say about their relationship?

But instead of starting something with her charismatic partner she had flirted at dating Tom Demming and after him she started her half here half not relationship with Josh Davidson. He supposes that after Johanna's death and the hurt she felt after Will Sorenson left her he should be happy that she has started to open her heart again at all. He just can't help thinking that she is opening it up to the wrong person.

Jim stops is his musings and looks again at the group waiting for news and in particular the man that has become so close to his daughter without the titles of boyfriend, fiancé or even husband but with the titles of friend and partner. Is he the right person? Will Katie survive to make that decision? The decision to risk her heart with a man she already trusts and is her friend at that yet challenges her. Or will she stay with the safe, unchallenging and mostly absent option of her current boyfriend?

He looks to the ceiling and in his head pleads, "Please Jo. Look after our little girl and let her stay so that she can make that choice. I promise I will be here for her whatever she decides. I just want her whole, healthy and happy."

* * *

_A/N : Again with Josh I think he suffers for being a threat to Castle in that he is a successful doctor that does humanitarian work and how can Castle compete with that. Then I also think that on a visceral level some fans don't like him for the moment referred to in this chapter. That he dared lay his hands on our favourite writer. A bit simplistic but I think that attacking Castle while he was at such an emotional low did nothing to endear him to fans. Again this is just my opinion. Others no doubt others and will disagree with mine like I might disagree with theirs. Opinions, everyone has one._

_For those that don't know, I have another ongoing story at the moment "The Seven Pointed Star". Not quite as introspective a this. It's an AU set after "Reckoning" and what Castle will do to protect Beckett. If you haven't already give it a try._


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N : An additional scene set at the end of 7x05 Meme Is Murder_

_Disclaimer : Castle and it's characters are the property of ABC. I do not own Castle or its characters in any way._

* * *

Castle strides with purpose into the conference room at Black Pawn to the sight of his currently two least favourite women seated at the oval, wooden conference table that dominates the room. When he first enters the room he observes that both women have their heads bowed with their concentration buried in the smart phones in their hands.

The darked haired woman, his agent Paula, is most likely answering some emails or tweeting as her fingers tap repeatedly at the screen of the phone. The blond haired woman, his publisher and ex-wife Gina, has her phone held horizontally and he can hear the faint sound of music coming from the phone. From the, to him, now all too familiar tune he can hear and the amused grin on Gina's face he knows exactly what his ex-wife is watching. The whole reason he has called this meeting.

The closing of the conference room door behind him breaks the hold of the phones over the other occupants of the room as both woman look up at him. Castle walks over to the chair nearest to him, at the end opposing where the two women are sitting, and flops angrily into it. He crosses his arms across his chest and glares down the table at the two women. Gina sitting at the head of the table directly opposite him and Paula a couple chairs down the table to Gina's right.

"So which one of you do I have to thank for becoming the latest internet laughingstock?" asks Castle angrily.

Both women glance at each other but before either of them can respond Castle holds up his hand to stop them, "No, don't worry, seeing as the video I am referring to first appeared on the Black Pawn website then I can guess that I have you, Gina, to thank for my current image as an virtual buffoon."

"Oh, come on Richard. It's not that bad and all the hits we've been getting on the Black Pawn website to view the video have led to a twenty-five percent increase in on-line sales of Raging Heat. Which was the whole point behind you doing that webmercial in the first place which, I remind you, you were all for doing for that very reason," responds Gina with just a hint of smugness.

"Yes, Ricky not to mention that your name is now the fifth most trending topic on Twitter as of this morning so I would call it a win as well," adds Paula in the unusual position of supporting Gina. Castle knew that his publisher and his agent didn't see things eye to eye often. Publicity for him and how to raise his public profile probably one of the few exceptions that they agree about.

"I agreed to do a tasteful promotion of the latest Nikki Heat. Not a video that has everyone from late night talk show hosts to my own family laughing at me. No amount of sales are worth this humiliation. Not to mention that with the permanency of the web that this little piece of "entertainment" will follow me for the rest of my life. How is anyone going to take anything I say or do seriously when this video can be brought up at any time to undermine that? Not to mention the hit my credibility has taken after the return from my disappearance and now this? It makes me look like a bumbling idiot. How is anyone going to believe my side of what happened to me if their impression of me is a performing fool on the internet?" complains Castle in frustration. Why won't anyone see how bad this is for him?

Sure he has his own well developed irreverent side but this is just too far. After his disappearance and then return he has been struggling both personally and professionally to find his place again. On one hand to him, with the two month gap in his memory, everything has hardly any reason to change. With the obvious exception that his marriage to Kate didn't go ahead. On the other hand everything in his life seemed to change around him for no apparent reason. From his relationship with his mother, daughter, the guys at the precinct and, of course, Kate. To his fans, the press and the general public's reaction to his abduction and return. The amount of disbelief and hate he has received about his amnesia of those two months have surprised even his relatively thick public skin.

"Look Ricky, I know you're not happy with this but it's done now and I think you should just get past it and let the positives outweigh the negatives. Anyway, you know I always have the philosophy that any publicity is good publicity and after your disappearance distracting the public and press from some of the negative speculation regarding that can only be a good thing," states Paula with an attempt at reassurance.

"That's right Richard. Frankly, after your disappearance Black Pawn has had to deal with a lot of negative press regarding you and it has been impacting on sales of both the latest Heat and Storm books. Yes, your return garnered some interest and a resulting uptick in sales but the negative reaction to your "explanation" for what happened to you during that time, or rather the lack there of, has caused sales to plateau. We here at Black Pawn feel that lightening your image like this and the changing of the on-line conversation regarding you that has resulted will get sales back on track," adds Gina with a hint of disbelief in her voice showing that she is one of those that doesn't believe in his amnesia.

Castle looks back and forth between the two women and sighs in frustration. If he's honest with himself he had expected this from the both of them. Paula has always been more concerned with his public image but sometimes his idea of what his image should be and hers differ. The Page 6 playboy image that he had for so long was an example of that. But after divorcing Gina he'd gone along with it as a way for getting past it. Paula has always felt that anything that can get him 'out there' is good.

Gina has always been about the bottom line, even when they were married, so of course all she is concerned about is the number of his books that are selling. That and knowing when the next chapters for Nikki or Derrick are ready, of course. It's times like these that makes him wonder why he ever married her in the first place?

Ok, so maybe her business sense was one of the things that did attract him in the first place. He'd thought at the time that he needed someone to motivate him and keep on his back about his writing. Sometimes even he can acknowledge that he can take procrastination to extremes but you can't rush things. In fact rushing writing almost always guarantees a poor result. Also he'd thought that having someone so close and so invested in his professional wellbeing could be nothing if not a positive.

Then there was the whole Alexis issue. As Alexis had grown and with Meredith so absent from her life he had worried about his daughter not having a female role model in her life. Back then his mother was still married to her second husband and wasn't living with them so while she was in their lives she wasn't the same flamboyant and ever at hand presence she became. So when the relationship with Gina developed he saw the possibility of her becoming close to Alexis and providing for his daughter those things a father, even a very close and caring father, just can't. Unfortunately it became apparent that both Gina wasn't exactly the maternal type and that he wasn't prepared to let her get as close to Alexis and by extension between the special bond he and his daughter share.

Thinking back to the start of their relationship Castle remembers the work lunches and dinners that gradually became more. That a joint love of literature, writing and the work involved in having books published that connected them and had started him looking at the admittedly beautiful woman as more than a work colleague. As their relationship moved past the work place he, for probably the first time in his life, started looking at a relationship with his head, not just his heart. So he started thinking about those previous reasons why having a permanent relationship with Gina was such a good idea.

Then again, for him, the heart has always been his real guiding force and analysing a relationship in such practical terms was so far out of character for him that he should have known that it wouldn't work. For a while, after they were married, as usually happens everything was good. They were happy and enjoyed being together. He had a strong female presence for Alexis and he had someone intimately connected to his professional life that helped him to be as prolific as ever. Then, gradually, it all started to change.

Gina never seemed to develop the connection he wanted with Alexis and he admits that he is partly to blame for that. That after it being just the two of them for so long after Meredith left that he'd found it hard to share his love for his daughter with another. Then the 'motivation' that he got from Gina regarding his writing became more and more strident and controlling. More like nagging and like a teacher demanding that he finish his homework and not a loving spouse encouraging him in his creative endeavours.

He'd come to realise that Gina, while sharing his love of books, viewed their production as a business and not a labour of love and intellect that can't be rushed. No, she seemed to think that after a given amount of time a book should be produced and that any time not spent doing so, when she deemed he should be, was time wasted. He'd really thought that her business like attitude to what he does would help him but in the end it was one of the many reasons why they both realised they shouldn't be together. Even the ill-advised rekindling of their relationship a few years ago had the same issues and ultimately led to its end as well. Plus again, if he is honest with himself, he was acting on the rebound a bit with Kate seemingly replacing him on the team and in her life with Demming at the time. Not the best basis to restart a relationship with someone.

Scrubbing a hand over his face in frustration he lays down an ultimatum to the two women in front of him, "Look, as I understand the contract that you, Paula, negotiated with Black Pawn. I have final approval on all publicity regarding my work and I do not approve of this video. So I want all links to it removed from my own website and the video itself removed from the Black Pawn website. Paula, I want you to get in touch with all those contacts of yours in the media to discourage them from referring to or from re-broadcasting the video."

"Ok, Ricky. I can have the links removed from your website and talk to my contacts but, as they say, this has gone viral. There are enough copies of this on YouTube alone that taking the original down and removing the links isn't really going to achieve much. Plus, while I have contacts with everyone that is anyone in the media I won't be able to stop everyone from playing or commenting on the video. You said it yourself the internet is permanent and once something is out there it's impossible to get rid of it," responds Paula with at least a modicum of regret for her client.

Castle turns an arched eyebrow towards Gina as she remains silent. Eventually she responds to his silent challenge, "All right Richard, I'll have the original removed from the Black Pawn website but as Paula said it's not going to really achieve anything. Also, some publicity for your works is a requirement of your contract so at least let me have the footage shot that day re-edited into a more appropriate spot, which you approve of, so that we can have something out there to promote Raging Heat?"

Yet another reason why their marriage failed in the end. Everything, even the most intimate or simple issues between them became like business negotiations. In many ways they were oil and water and they really don't mix. Deep down, he knows, Gina just didn't get him. Saw him as a commodity and not as man with wants, needs and desires beyond what helps him produce the next bestseller.

"Fine, but I don't want the same person involved in editing together the last video anywhere near the production of a new one," agrees Castle reluctantly.

At that he notices a particularly shifty expression pass across his ex-wife's face and a sudden realisation hits him, "Gina, were you responsible for the production of that video? You, my publisher, who is supposed to hold my professional interests is such high regard was behind the production of that aberration of a character assassination?" he asks in angry disbelief.

"I may have thought that a display of your more human and humorous qualities were the best option we were going to get out of the material that was shot. So yes, I made the decision that the video took the direction it did and given the attention it has garnered I would say that I made the correct decision," justifies Gina defiantly but with some minor discomfort at the look she is getting from Castle.

Castle is flabbergasted. Why would she do this? Surely this can't be a reaction to their divorce and to the break-up of their brief reconnection of a few years ago. If this was Meredith then he could definitely see her doing this as a way of bringing him down a peg but he didn't think he and Gina had that kind of acrimonious break-up. If anything he thought their dissolution was mutual and amicable which is why he still worked with her. He knew she didn't get him but to this extent? That while he can poke fun at himself and can take a certain level of public derision and criticism that he wouldn't find this level of public ridicule mortifying. He puts voice to these thoughts.

"Why would you do this? Why would you possible think that I would be OK with this?" he asks her in a slightly desperate and confused tone.

Gina just shrugs her shoulders, "Honestly Richard, I didn't think you would mind. You've always acted a bit like an overgrown child so I thought that you would enjoy the attention that such a video would garner. Plus it is really funny," responds Gina with a slight mischievous glint in her eye.

"Well, I don't find it funny and I'm disappointed after all these years we've known each other that you would do this. I think, after this, that at the next renegotiating of my contract that we revisit your role as my publisher," says Castle seriously and he notices a slight smirk grace the lips of Paula as a look of surprise appears on Gina's face at Castle's mention of her removal from his professional life.

Still not happy but knowing that he is not going to get any further with the two in front of him Castle decides to end things.

"Well, if you could both see to the removal of the current offending video from all officially approved sources and then the production of a more appropriate one it will go a small way towards helping me putting this whole incident behind me. And this time I want to see whatever video is produced before it is released to the entire internet. Good day ladies," and with that he rises from his seat and walks out of the conference room.

As he heads towards the elevator he ponders his ex-wife and perhaps soon to be ex-publisher. Yet another incident to chalk up to the reasons why they are now no longer together. How can someone who was married to him not get him so badly? Not know that he would have a problem with this? Especially after all that has happed to himself recently.

The worry, guilt and self-doubt that plagues him after his disappearance is why he hasn't been sleeping. On top of that he has always had deep seated insecurities on how people see him which he tries to compensate for with a need to please others and, ironically, for recognition. This incident has just added to that insecurity and will probably add to his sleepless nights.

As the elevator doors open in front of him and he steps inside he thinks, what else can happen to me now? What do I have to do to get back everything back to that solid ground? For himself, his family, his friends and Kate.

* * *

_A/N : I may have gone a bit AU making Gina responsible for the video seen at the end of the episode but it didn't seem too much of a stretch that she was responsible for it. At the very least she had to know about it. _

_As there is so little stated in the series on why Gina and Castle didn't work I had to go with Castle's POV because it seems that only he and Gina know the reasons. As to why fans don't like her? Well, as inferred in this, perhaps its because she was only interested in Castle because of his writing and the money that could be made from it. That and she seems to be always on Castle's back and that makes her into a bit of a negative character. Again this is just my opinion and I'm sure others have their own._

_Thank you for reading. _


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N : A missing scene set somewhere in 5x24 Watershed_

_Disclaimer : I do not own Castle and unlikely ever will. ABC does own it and the characters._

* * *

Rogan O'Leary stands at the window of his apartment, coffee mug in hand, as he watches the woman walking, almost scurrying, away down the sidewalk. The young, blond, tall, fit woman, dressed in a dark grey pants suit, is trying to walk with confidence and not give the impression that she is doing the walk of shame. He knows that in her mind the woman in question is no doubt finding the whole situation particularly shameful.

Seriously, he thinks, what is the FBI thinking sending a rookie like that out here, alone, to interview a guy like him? The moment the very young, obviously fresh from Quantico, agent had found him at the used car dealership where he is working a second job, he knew exactly how to play her. She was just too wet behind the ears to resist the charm and false playful sincerity he threw her way. Otherwise she never would have agreed to conduct his interview over dinner. Never would have later joined him for more than a few shots at his favourite bar, not the one he worked at, and not joined him in bed for a very enjoyable if drunken night.

As he turns away from the window and walks over to his couch he takes another sip of his coffee. At the couch he flips up one of the cushions and reaches down with this free hand into the hidden rip in one corner the lining of the base. It only takes a moment for his questing fingers to retrieve the identification folder he'd appropriated from his bed mate last night and hidden there. Flipping it open he studies the gold FBI badge and the identification card opposite.

It shouldn't be too hard to change the photo and the details on the ID card with his own. You never know when having a FBI badge and ID might come in handy. Not to mention that he's learned a few things since that time in New Orleans so he shouldn't get pinched this time. The loss of her badge is just one of the reasons that the young agent is fleeing his apartment this morning obviously mortified. Upon waking she'd gone ballistic trying to find it and had again shown her lack of experience when she hadn't located where he'd hidden it. He still can't believe that she accepted his suggestion that she either lost it at the bar or somewhere between there and his place. It's loss and the fact that she'd gotten drunk and slept with him, a subject in a security vetting inquiry, were reasons why she was fleeing and why he was sure she would do as he suggested. Forget all about him and his connection to one Kate Beckett.

He still can't believe that Kit-Kat is now a cop, is about to become a Fed and that he's married to her. He faintly remembers that other drunken night in Vegas where apparently he and the beautiful brunette tied the knot. That night is all a bit of a blur. He faintly remembers going through a drive-thru but whether it was for burgers or a marriage certificate there's no way he can remember now. Except that the agent that he just spent the night with had sought him out to ask him about it because the records show that he and Kit-Kat were indeed married and had been ever since that night.

While that night and the weekend in Vegas had been wild and fun a lot of it was lost in a alcohol fueled haze. He does, however, recall how their time together ended. He'd gotten into a bit of a fix, financially, so he'd been forced to "borrow" Kit-Kat's purse. That back room poker game just begged for him to play and it wasn't his fault that the game went for so long and so unsuccessfully. By the time he left the game, with not a penny left to his name and returned to the low scale apartment where he lived he'd found his place trashed. The only sign of Kit-Kat was a rather explicit note for him explaining what would happen to his man parts if she ever saw him again.

So it turns out that they have been married all this time and he never knew it. Not only he but from what last night's guest told him Kit-Kat doesn't know either. The young Agent Janet Williams had come to him as part of the vetting process because Kit-Kat had applied for some high falootin' federal job and they'd found the record of their marriage. A marriage that Kit-Kat had failed to mention on any of the paperwork that she'd filled out for the job. According to Janet such an omission would seriously jeopardize the granting of the security clearance her job requires. That was why she'd tracked him down here. To interview him and determine his relationship to Kit-Kat. The fact that he was also someone that had the occasional negative brush with the law also didn't assist Kit-Kat's case for the granting of the clearance.

That wasn't going to be an issue after last night. No, he'd been able to stress to Janet that the loss of her badge, getting drunk and sleeping with him, all while she was supposed to be working would probably lead to her being fired. He'd '"suggested" to her that if she went back to her bosses and told them that the whole thing was a clerical error and that Kate and he weren't married then he would keep quiet about her lost ID and their entertaining but highly inappropriate night. It had been touch and go there for a minute. For a moment there he thought the rookie FBI agent would take out her gun and shoot him but in the end she'd agreed to sweep both the marriage and their night together under the rug.

Besides keeping his name out of the feds records this whole situation has the added advantage that, as he is still technically married to Kit-Kat, that some day in the future he might be able to make use of that fact. If she does become a Fed then it might be very advantageous to have someone like that owing him. Whether he has to seek her out to get out of a jam or whether she seeks him out in the future he's sure he'll be able to turn the situation to his advantage. Just like the ID he is holding, having Kate the Fed in his pocket could be very useful someday.

Rogan thinks back to that time fourteen years ago at Stamford when he and Kit-Kat had been together. Boy they'd had some fun. She was gorgeous, away from home for the first time and looking to really sow some wild child oats and he'd been more than happy to oblige. He'd been working at an off campus bar and had spotted a beautiful, brunette come into the bar in black biker leathers. He'd recognized that the ID she had was fake but turned a blind eye so he could try and get close to the striking girl and his natural charm and smooth tongue helped him do just that. It had been a tumultuous few weeks together with that weekend in Vegas a great and, as it turns out a significant, time that typified their relationship. Fun, risk taking and mostly clouded by quite a bit of vodka. Then he'd screwed it up, like he usually did, and she left him.

To be honest he'd expected it. Despite the rebel without a cause vibe that Kit-Kat was trying to project at the time he could see that deep down she was a "good girl". Her relationship with him was just some minor teenage rebellion, to be looked back on with nostalgia as she climbs the corporate ladder as a lawyer and marries some douche. That she ended up as a cop and not a lawyer is only a slight surprise. He'd seen the strength and basic tow the line attitude in her at the time, typified by how she unceremoniously dumped him when he stole from her and so her being a cop was not too much of a stretch. He just wonders what happened to turn her down that path.

Putting the "missing" ID down on his kitchen table he finishes his coffee and places the empty mug in the kitchen sink. Looking at his watch he sees that he still has a few hours before he starts at his other job at Tildy's bar. Now there is another brunette that has caught his eye and maybe even has captured his heart. He's been working on the owner of the bar where he works for some time now. He senses that she is this close to sub-coming to his charms and when she does he's sure it will be great. It might even be different this time. That he won't ruin it with one of his wild and likely illegal schemes or gets too involved in another's scheme in an effort to get rich quick. No, he actually thinks that he could have a future with Tildy and doesn't want to screw that up by doing what he has done in relationships before the moment they start to be too serious.

Before now he doesn't do "serious". The minute a woman has looked at him like something more than a good time he's always done something to cause the end of the relationship. "Borrowed" money from them, gotten arrested as a result of one of his schemes, used their credit to start a business that fails or just plain run. Plus he's older now and there are only so many times he can skip town with an angry ex on his tail. Maybe he's ready to settle down. That's not to say that he won't have an escape plan. Perhaps he can use the truth that he is married to his advantage. Maybe he can even use it as a way to get in with Tildy. A suitably tragic and romantic story of a love cut short yet trapped by something like illness. Yeah, Tildy is sure to lap that up.

He thinks back to that tall, thin, hazel eyed girl of fifteen years ago. His time with Kit-Kat had been a laugh but ultimately, like all his relationships before and since, was never going to last and that was, he can admit, is all on him. Perhaps he can have something different with Tildy. Then again there is something about tigers and changing spots that might apply to him but that's far too deep for him to think about with the hangover he's currently sporting.

Rogan O'Leary stumbles towards his bedroom for a couple hours more sleep. As he collapses on the bed he thinks, one day he'll probably see Kit-Kat again and it will be a blast when he does. Hopefully it will be in a situation that he can use either for pleasure or profit. Pleasure and profit Now there are some things that he truly loves.

* * *

_A/N : So I think one of the reasons that most fans don't like Rogan is because he was a part of the whole end of season 6 storyline that delayed the Caskett wedding. That and the implausibility of some of the story that I try to adress in this chapter. Then again he is so recent that he doesn't turn up in many fan-fics anyway which is why I didn't give him a very big chapter. Plus this chapter is an epilogue as this is the last one. The only other ex I can think of adressing is Jacinda but at the moment I can't see an interesting chapter for her so this is where this collection of stories will end._

_I hope those that have stuck with this have enjoyed it. I appreciate everyone that has read, followed, faved and left a positve and constructive review. _


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